Safeguarding and Child Protection 2022

'Safeguarding is Everyone's Business'

We recognise our moral and statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children and young people.

We make every effort to provide an environment in which children, young people and adults feel safe, secure, valued and respected, and feel confident to talk if they are worried, believing they will be effectively listened to.

The purpose of this policy (see link below) is to provide staff, volunteers and Governors with the framework they need in order to keep children and young people safe and secure in our setting. The policy also informs parents and carers how we will safeguard their children and young people whilst they are in our care.

We acknowledge that working in partnership with other agencies protects children and reduces risk and so we will engage in partnership working to protect and safeguard our children and young adults.

If you see anything whilst in school that gives you cause for concern, or have any questions, you have a duty of care to report it:

Speak to a member of the Freemantles Safeguarding Team:

 In dealing with allegations or concerns against an adult, you must:

• Report any concerns about the conduct of any member of staff or volunteer to the Executive Headteacher immediately.
• If an allegation is made against the Executive Headteacher, the concerns need to be raised with the Chair of Governor as soon as possible. If the Chair of Governors is not available, then the LADO should be contacted directly.

 Safeguarding and Online Safety Policies 

Online Safety

Freemantles takes the online safety of our students very seriously, we record and monitor keystrokes, and work with students who are searching inappropriately, treating this as a teaching opportunity. We recognise that our pupils are socially vulnerable, and are likely to be particularly prone to misunderstandings online or in games that rely on an understanding of the distinctions between fantasy and reality.

We recognise that the spiky profiles of our pupils often means that our students’ abilities when using technology and working online are functioning at or near to their neurotypical age, however much of their social understanding is far behind.

We are therefore keen to highlight to parents that it is even more important to closely monitor their children’s online activity and to note the age restrictions on games. As our pupils have less social understanding, they are vulnerable to misinterpreting games.

As a result of our high level of concern we do record children and young people reporting the use of games and social media accounts underage as a safeguarding concern.

Online safety – Parents’ information